Born: 17 February 1889 - 30 May 1982
Known for: Frank Prentice was a storekeeper on the RMS Titanic. He survived the sinking by swimming to Lifeboat 4 and being pulled in by its occupants. He was the second-to-last member of the crew to pass away, being survived only by Sidney Edward Daniels.
Prentice Joined the Titanic in Southampton on April 4th as an assistant storekeeper, earning monthly wages of £3, 15s. He later claimed he had about three days to familiarize himself with the ship before the departure.
During the collision he was in his cabin, talking to a friend. He didn't feel the collision, likely because his cabin was on the port side, but he felt the ship stopping. When he went up to the promenade deck to investigate, he saw pieces of ice that had fallen on the forward well deck
During the sinking he assisted in the filling of the lifeboats, however he himself did not embark one of them, and ended up being left on the ship after all the lifeboats had left.
Prentice, along with his colleagues Cyril Ricks and Michael Kieran ended up on the port side of the Poop Deck and climbed over the railing. Prentice saw large amounts of debris floating around but eventually let himself slide off the stern and fell approximately 100 feet (30 metre) before reaching the water, nearly hitting the propellers during his fall, and reaching the water without hitting any of the debris. He could not find Kieran but he did find Ricks, who was injured after apparently having hit something in the water. Prentice remained with Ricks until he died.
He then swam around until he found lifeboat 4, which had remained near the ship during the sinking, and was pulled aboard by its occupants. Here he also met the now widowed Mrs. Clark again.
Lifeboat 4 was picked up by the RMS Carpathia around 8:00 AM and Prentice boarded the ship along with the approximately 60 other occupants of the lifeboat. He finally arrived in New York on on April 18th.
Bournemouth Connection: Frank moved to the Bournemouth area seven years after the disaster and lived for many years in New Road, Ferndown and later on Southbourne Overcliff Drive – had been 18 at the time.
Series Information: This is the tenth and final geocache in the Bournemouth People (2021) series. The nine other caches are stand-alone traditional caches. Each cache found will provide one of three bonus clues, which will reveal the coordinates for this mystery cache. With only three clues to collect, you do not need to find all the caches in this series in order to have the information for the final, so if you are unable to find one, you should still be able to get the coordinates required. For the purpose of this series, please note that the bonus clues are numbered ‘Bonus Clue 4’, ‘Bonus Clue 5’, and ‘Bonus Clue 6’, to avoid confusion with caches found in other Bournemouth People series.
The Complete 2021 Series
Millie Bobby-Brown
Dai Dower
Tony Blackburn
Gerald Durrell
Marc Koska
Charles Gray
Virginia Wade
Leilani Dowding
Ken Baily
Frank Prentice